1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an illumination optical system, an exposure apparatus provided with the illumination optical system, and a device manufacturing method using the exposure apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an exposure apparatus for manufacturing microdevices such as semiconductor integrated circuits is provided with an illumination optical system for guiding exposure light emitted from a light source, to a mask such as a reticle on which a predetermined pattern is formed. The illumination optical system is provided with a fly's eye lens as an optical integrator. When the exposure light is incident into the fly's eye lens, a predetermined light intensity distribution is formed on an illumination pupil plane which is optically in a Fourier transform relation with an illumination target surface of a mask on the exit plane side of the fly's eye lens (the predetermined light intensity distribution will be referred to hereinafter as “pupil intensity distribution”). The illumination pupil plane on which the pupil intensity distribution is formed is also referred to as a secondary light source consisting of a large number of illuminants.
The exposure light emitted from the secondary light source is condensed by a condenser lens and thereafter illuminates the mask in a superimposed manner. Then the exposure light passing through the mask travels through a projection optical system to illuminate a region on a substrate such as a wafer coated with a photosensitive material. As a result, the pattern of the mask is projected for exposure (or transferred) onto the substrate.
Incidentally, integration (micronization) of the pattern formed on the mask has been becoming higher and higher in recent years. For accurately transferring the microscopic pattern of the mask onto the substrate, it is essential to form an illumination region with a uniform illuminance distribution (which will also be referred to as “still exposure region”) on the substrate. A conventional technology for accurately transferring the microscopic pattern of the mask onto the substrate was to form the pupil intensity distribution, for example, of an annular shape or a multi-polar shape (dipolar, quadrupolar, or other shape) on the illumination pupil plane so as to improve the depth of focus and the resolving power of the projection optical system.